EP2213204A1

EP2213204A1 - Seating furniture assembly

Info

Publication number: EP2213204A1
Application number: EP09151864A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Per-Evert Johnsson
Original assignee: LAMMHULTS MOBEL AB
Current assignee: LAMMHULTS MOBEL AB
Priority date: 2009-02-02
Filing date: 2009-02-02
Publication date: 2010-08-04
Also published as: EP2319372B1; DK2319372T3; US20100196088A1; EP2213205B1; DK2213205T3; EP2213205A1; EP2319372A1; US8528972B2

Abstract

A seating furniture assembly comprises two furniture units (3, 5) releasably coupled to each other by means of at least one coupling means. The at least one coupling means comprises a first coupling member (9) provided on one (3) of said furniture units and a second coupling member (11) provided on the other (5) of said furniture units. The first and the second coupling members (9, 11) interact magnetically.

A furniture unit (3) for building such a seating furniture assembly has a first coupling member (9) for magnetic interaction with a second coupling member (11) provided on a second furniture unit (5).

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a seating furniture assembly comprising at least two furniture units releasably coupled to each other by means of at least one coupling means.
The present invention also relates to a furniture unit for building such a seating furniture assembly.

Technical background

Seating furniture assemblies of the above mentioned type are previously known. In known seating furniture assemblies the furniture units are typically coupled by means of fittings and/or fasteners, e.g. nuts and bolts.
Such seating furniture assemblies may however be considered cumbersome and/or time-consuming to assemble.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above described drawbacks, and to provide an improved seating furniture assembly.
This and other objects that will be apparent from the following summary and description are achieved by a seating furniture assembly according to the appended claims 1-5 and a furniture unit according to the appended claims 6-9.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a seating furniture assembly comprising two furniture units releasably coupled to each other by means of at least one coupling means. The at least one coupling means comprises a first coupling member provided on one of said furniture units and a second coupling member provided on the other of said furniture units, said first and second coupling members interacting magnetically.
Thus, furniture units of the seating furniture assembly can be coupled to each other, as well as separated from each other, in a quick and easy manner without the use of tools. The configuration of a seating furniture assembly may therefore easily be modified. Hence, a flexible seating furniture assembly may be provided.
The coupling members of a coupling means interact magnetically with each other. At least one of the coupling members of a coupling means thus includes a magnet. If only one of the the coupling members of a coupling means is a magnet the other coupling member is formed from a magnetic material, such as e.g. steel.
Preferably, both of said coupling members are magnets and more preferably permanent magnets, in order to further improve the robustness of the seating furniture assembly.
Preferably, at least one of the coupling members is a rare earth magnet and more preferably a neodymium magnet in order to provide a very robust coupling between the furniture units of the seating furniture assembly.
Preferably, each of the coupling members of a coupling means is a magnet and more preferably a neodymium magnet in order to provide a particularly robust coupling.
The bonding force of said at least one coupling means is preferably at least 100 N.
Preferably, one furniture unit is provided with at least one further coupling member, said at least one further coupling member and the first coupling member being arranged on different sides of said one furniture unit. The at least one further coupling member is thus arranged to be able to interact magnetically with a coupling member provided on a third furniture unit. This embodiment has the advantage that the flexibility of a seating furniture assembly is further improved since a furniture unit is adapted to be coupled with a further furniture unit.
Preferably, said at least one further coupling member is a magnet and more preferably a rare earth magnet in order to further improve the flexibility of a seating furniture assembly.
Preferably, the coupling members are received in a cavity of respective furniture unit.
Preferably, at least one of said furniture units is provided with means covering the coupling member. This has the advantage that the coupling member may be completely hidden.
Preferably, each of said first and second furniture units is provided with several coupling members, said several coupling members being arranged parallel to each other on respective furniture unit, in order to further improve the robustness of the coupling between the furniture units.
Particularly, if a seating furniture assembly comprises more than two furniture units a very flexible seating furniture arrangement may be provided.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a furniture unit for building such a seating furniture assembly having a first coupling member for magnetic interaction with a second coupling member provided on a second furniture unit.
Further advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings which show embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 shows a seating furniture assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 shows the seating furniture assembly shown in Fig. 1 in a view where furniture units have been separated from each other.
Fig. 3 shows a furniture unit of the seating arrangement assembly shown in Fig. 1.
Figs. 4a-b show a coupling region of the seating furniture assembly shown in Fig. 1.
Figs. 5a-c show further embodiments of the present invention.
Fig. 6 shows a seating arrangement formed from two seating furniture assemblies according to embodiments of the present invention.
Fig. 7 shows a seating arrangement formed from two seating furniture assemblies according to embodiments of the present invention combined with a single furniture unit.

Technical description

Fig. 1 shows a seating furniture assembly 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The seating furniture assembly 1 comprises a first furniture unit 3 and a second furniture unit 5 coupled to each other by means of coupling means. In this case both furniture units 3 and 5 are corner furniture units. It is however realized that a seating furniture assembly according to an emboiment of the present invention may comprise furniture units not being of the same type.
Fig. 2 shows the the furniture units 3 and 5 separated from each other. Each of the furniture units 3 and 5 is provided with coupling members 9 and 11, respectively, arranged on sides of the furniture units 3 and 5 facing each other. The coupling members 9 and 11 are thus arranged in such a manner that each of the coupling members 9 provided on the furniture unit 3 may interact with a coupling member 11 provided on the furniture unit 5, see Fig. 2. Each pair of coupling members 9 and 11 together form a coupling means 7. In this case the seating furniture assembly 1 thus has two coupling means 7. Alternatively, the furniture units 3 and 5 of the seating furniture assembly 1 may be coupled to each other by one single coupling means 7. The furniture units 3 and 5 are in this case provided with further coupling members 10 and 12, respectively, in order to be adapted to be coupled to further furniture units.
The coupling members of a coupling means interact magnetically with each other. Both of the coupling members of a coupling means are preferably magnets in order to provide for particularly good flexibility of a seat furniture assembly.
In this embodiment each of the coupling members 9, 10, 11 and 12 is a rare earth magnet, in the form of a disc-shaped circular neodymium magnet. The magnets 9, 10, 11 and 12 are covered by a rubber coating. In this case the couplings means 7 together have a bonding force of about 280 N.
Rare earth magnets are permanent magnets made from alloys of rare earth elements. Rare earth magnets are substantially stronger than for instance ferrite magnets. A neodymium magnet is a permanent magnet (Nd₂Fe₁₄B) made of an alloy of neodymium, iron and boron, which has very strong magnetic bonding properties.
Each of the coupling members 9, 10, 11 and 12 is in this case accomodated in a frame structure cavity 17, as best illustrated in Figs. 4a and Fig. 4b. Particularly, if the frame structure 13 is covered by a covering 15 the coupling members 9, 10, 11 and 12 can then be completely hidden, as illustrated in Fig. 4a. As indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4a the coupling members 9 and 11 are attached to the respective frame structure by means of screws 19. The screws 19 provide for a robust fastening of the coupling members. Alternatively, the coupling members 9, 10, 11 and 12 may be attached to the frame structure 13 by means of e.g. bolts and nuts.
As shown in Fig. 3 the furniture unit 5 comprises a frame structure 13, upholstery material (not shown) and a covering 15 that covers the upholstery material and the major part of the frame structure 13. A part of the covering 15 has been removed in Fig. 3 to clearly illustrate the coupling members 11 and 12.
Figs. 4a-b illustrate a coupling region of the seating furniture assembly 1. In Fig. 4a the coupling members 9 and 11 are separated from each other. In Fig. 4b the coupling members 9 and 11 of the coupling means 7 interact magnetically and thus couple the furniture units 3 and 5 to each other.
A seating furniture assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention may comprise different types of furniture units, such as e.g. corner furniture units, bench furniture units and bench furniture units having back rests. It is thus realized that several seating furniture assembly configurations are possible within the scope of the present invention by combining furniture units of the same or of different types. In order to illustrate this, a number of alternative embodiments are shown in Figs. 5a-c.
The seating furniture assembly shown in Fig. 5a includes two bench furniture units having back rests.
The seating furniture assembly shown in Fig. 5b includes two bench furniture units. Each of the bench furniture units is in this case provided with one neodymium magnet in the coupling region, which results in a bonding force of about 140 N.
The seating furniture assembly shown in Fig. 5c includes one corner furniture unit and one bench furniture unit having back rest.
It is realized that seating furniture assemblies according to embodiments of the present invention may be coupled to each other, as illustrated in Fig. 6 where two embodiments according to Fig. 5c are coupled to each other.
A seating arrangement may be modified in a quick and easy manner by removing furniture unit(s), rearranging furniture unit(s) or by adding furniture unit(s).
Fig. 7 further illustrates the flexibility of the invention and shows a seating arrangement which is formed from two seating furniture assemblies coupled to each other and combined with a single fifth furniture unit provided with coupling members. This seating arrangement may for instance be modified by adding further furniture unit(s) interacting with coupling members 110 and 114, which are indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7. The coupling members 110 and 114 are not visible due to a covering.
It will be appreciated that the described embodiments of the invention can be modified and varied by a person skilled in the art without departing from the inventive concept defined in the claims.

Claims

Seating furniture assembly (1) comprising two furniture units (3, 5) releasably coupled to each other by means of at least one coupling means (7)
characterised in
said at least one coupling means (7) comprising a first coupling member (9) provided on one (3) of said furniture units and a second coupling member (11) provided on the other (5) of said furniture units, said first and second coupling members (9, 11) interacting magnetically.
Seating furniture assembly (1) according to claim 1, wherein both of said coupling members (9, 11) are magnets.
Seating furniture assembly (1) according to claim 2, wherein at least one of said magnets is a rare earth magnet.
Seating furniture assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein one furniture unit (3) is provided with at least one further coupling member (10), said at least one further coupling member (10) and the first coupling member (9) being arranged on different sides of said one furniture unit (3).
Seating furniture assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of said furniture units (3, 5) is provided with means (15) covering the coupling member (9, 10, 11).
Furniture unit (3) for building a seating furniture assembly (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by
a first coupling member (9) for magnetic interaction with a second coupling member (11) provided on a second furniture unit (5).
Furniture unit (3) according to claim 6, wherein said first coupling member (9) is a magnet.
Furniture unit (3) according to claim 7, wherein said first coupling member (9) is a rare earth magnet.
Furniture unit (3) according to any of claims 6-8, comprising a further coupling member (10), said further coupling member (10) and said first coupling member (9) being arranged on different sides of the furniture unit (3).